Leading growth, driving change in financial consulting

Chima Nwajagu, the founder and senior partner at Blackcreek Partners LLP, is our entrepreneur of the week. In this interview with RITA OHAI, he speaks on his role as a leader in one of Nigeria’s foremost consulting firms and gives his candid opinion on the indigenous insurance sector.

Chima is a financial, legal and business adviser specializing in corporate restructuring and distressed assets.

Having previously served at Aquamarine Capital Advisors, Oceanic and Fidelity Bank, he has had the opportunity to venture in key operating areas such as corporate and institutional banking as well as structured project finance and so when he airs his view on the state of risk extenuation, stakeholders pay attention.

As one who is interested in providing strategic advisory services to his clients, he decided to set up his firm after noticing the huge gap in the quality of services provided by home-grown fiscal consulting institutions.

In his words, he says; “There was a niche in the market that needed to be filled and I felt I had the  requisite skills to fill that niche”

In fulfilling his vision, he shared his dream with his long time friend, Ekong Etim who at present serves as the managing partner at Blackcreek and the company was born.

Although it’s been a productive effort, like every other business venture, the company has had its  seasons of challenges.

Sharing one of the toughest hurdles he and his partners are forced to deal with on a regular bases, Chima says “The biggest challenge I face is the fact that clients, particularly in this country, are not willing to pay for services rendered, you get out there, put in the work and because you are not yet one of the multi-international companies, they want to take your intellectual property for free and that is a major issue.”

While finding creative ways to get his client base to place premium values on the effort his organisation puts in the services they offer, Nwajagu insists that no matter the level of pressure he may find himself under, he is committed to applying the tenets of “integrity that leads to quality and professional service delivery”.

And as he continually strives for excellence, he hopes his resolutions translate to growth initiatives in new markets as they develop and maintain existing client relationships.

Having played an active role in the money markets as it locally felt the ripples of the global economic meltdown, the former banker has strong opinions on the workings of the nation’s insurance sector.

In a bid to create awareness on the activities and importance of this market, Chima shared some of the benefits of investing in risk mitigation either at the company or individual level.

He said, “You can’t really quantify the benefits [of insurance] in terms of the risk that you would need to cover in an environment like this (Nigeria). So, for businesses engaged in very high risk sectors especially in oil and gas or even in the service sector, it’s always good to be sure that the eventualities are covered. It could be your goods, equipment’s or even intellectual property.”

When asked if the risk business owners face in particularly in emerging markets is comparatively higher than it is in other parts of the world, he expressed, “I think the risks are the same if you ask me. In Nigeria, we just have apathy in taking care of risk or talking to insurance companies. The reason is because both the insurance companies and it’s regulators have not done enough to educate people on what the benefits are in making sure they are covered.

“Having done business in Europe and America I think the risks are basically the same just that it is well understood in such markets and business onwers take advantage of it. Even if the business doesn’t go through, you find out that people are taking-out insurance because they understand the need to take steps to mitigate against any risks they tend to foresee,” he said.

Although people have generally stated that one of the major issues with the insurance sector in Nigeria is the poor quality of education and skill set among professionals who are to sell the premiums to a teeming customer base, others are of the opinion that the crux of the low level of patronage these companies face largely stems from inadequate government interventions.

Giving an insider’s perspective on the matter, Nwajagu posited, “From my own experience I think the problem has been the way the insurance companies have modeled their operations. They basically modeled it around banking sector where you have a bunch of people going out just to sell the product and get premium which is basically what they call marketing.

“But at the end of the day when you get into the nitty-gritty of insurance policy you begin to hear words like “let me get my technical people” and you find out that the technical people in an institution, take a normal insurance company, may not be more than five people, so the rest of them are just guys that go out there to sell premium.

“So that has become the challenge. They are not well engaged to sell what they are marketing if you ask me. It is simply a case of a seller selling products that the seller is not well equipped to sell.”

Proffering solutions on how the sector can check the lassitude the indigineous workforce generally has for that industry, he shared, “The insurance companies and their regulator need to really educate the average businessman, the average guy on the street on the need to even ensure his mobile phone.”

While tackling the matter of stereotyping takes center stage particularly with uncertainty mapping the economic landscape on the backdrop of dwindling oil prices and rising interest rates, Chima and his team are determined to move his company from one progress level to the other.

Revealing his long term goal, he says, “We plan on growing bigger, with the expansion of the Nigerian economy, there is an opportunity to become a bigger, there is always a niche for firms like Blackcreek, while the big firms vie for the large accounts. In addition to the major companies, we will also cater to the needs of medium and small scale enterprises and we will expand our foot print in those market within the next few years.”